People practice

[Ernicus]

Took a picture of my wonderful woman lounging.

I had my sb-27 flash, off camera, on a reflective umbrella

55mm 1/160 sec; f/8; ISO 200

I'm happy that I got her eyes in focus, lol.

anything obviously bad that sticks out I'm all ears.

Not really interested in "crappy background" sort of advice...as I was practicing on setting up my ocf and working on nailing focus.

My first thought is that it's too "heavy" or "bright" on the light on her left side, but I don't really know what I'm looking for so it may be correct, or horrible...I dunno. I wasn't going for any sort of "effect' as much as just setting it up and getting a shot.

 

[Samerr9]

As for exposure it is really good.

If you are looking for things to look, here are my two cents:

1- Her shoulder and right side under her neck are brighter than her face, the main thing to light is such a shot is the face
2- The knee and the bra string are distracting, you can take care of small details
3- You could have applied some skin softening on the chest as you did to the face
4- The facial expression and the eyes direction are not telling me anything, try to make a story in her look
5- You might have used a reflector or another light on the other side to fill in some of the shadows, especially the left eye and side of the nose

I really don't mean to be picky, but note these next time and the photo will be much better

 

[Ernicus]

As for exposure it is really good.

If you are looking for things to look, here are my two cents:

1- Her shoulder and right side under her neck are brighter than her face, the main thing to light is such a shot is the face
2- The knee and the bra string are distracting, you can take care of small details
3- You could have applied some skin softening on the chest as you did to the face
4- The facial expression and the eyes direction are not telling me anything, try to make a story in her look
5- You might have used a reflector or another light on the other side to fill in some of the shadows, especially the left eye and side of the nose

I really don't mean to be picky, but note these next time and the photo will be much better

Not picky at all, thanks for taking the time to give your thoughts.

I'm glad you mentioned reflector on other side, because I was wondering that after reviewing....so i'm glad to hear my thought echo'd...means I'm learning.

Points 2 and 4 are indeed valid points...but wasn't really concerned with such things on this practice effort. I'll definitely keep those things in mind when I try to create a photograph with lighting that sets a mood/story.

So to your point in number 1. To fix/achieve that, I'm guessing I should have raised the umbrella and/or point it differently?

as to point 3. Yeah, I totally forgot to hit the chest area and a bit of arms....and honestly I didn't feel like doing it again. lol. I wasn't going to mention to see if it was noticeable, and you did...so thanks and I'll make sure I do all or none next time.

Thanks again for taking the time to give a detailed assessment.

 

[kundalini]

As far as lighting placement, I think you have set it too low vertically, but the placement to camera left is pretty good. My reasoning is because catch lights are usually more pleasing in the 10:00 to 2:00 o'clock positions to replicate the sun above us. Your catch lights look to almost be at 9:00 o'clock. This is causing the nose shadow to run parallel with the nose rather than the usual downward towards, but not on, the upper lip. By raising the vertical height of your light, this would also de-emphasized/thin/lessened the shadows caused by her garment (the back of the couch also). Like I said, the position off lens axis is pretty good and looks to be in the 30° to 45° range. There seems to be a reasonable lighting ratio between lit and shadowed side of her face.

So, much to your chagrin, the "crappy background" card must to be played. The reason is because this was not some candid you snapped. Nope, it was a set up shot with a purpose, your "People Practice" and your use of OCF. Even though it was merely practice, make it count and put into place a certain routine of looking at and for details. 10 seconds to remove that purple thing behind her head which should have been noticed before you even looked through the viewfinder. Same with the errant bra strap. Ask your wonderful woman to simply adjust herself by tugging on the bottom of her garments to smooth out any wrinkles or fly-aways. Once you are in the moment of framing in the viewfinder, the knee should have been an easy one to notice. Ask her to slip her knee down on top of the other to remove from the frame. If you start in the beginning to recognize these details, the more it will become second nature and the more flattering the results, even if it's just for practice.

Now that I'm off the soap box, lovely missus. Thanks for sharing.

 

[Ernicus]

lol, noted. it was mostly to "thwart" comments as I was already aware of the background issue. Was more interested in things I didn't know about, which both of you have pointed out.

as I recall, I do believe I had the light only 3.5 to 4 ft off the ground. For some reason I thought it was a good idea to keep it the same level as the camera.


I actually understand what you're saying in your first paragraph. lol. yay. thanks for the info *makes notes on paper*

 

[kundalini]

For some reason I thought it was a good idea to keep it the same level as the camera.

It could be if your aim is for split lighting. But instead of thinking it (light source) to be at the level of the camera, think of it in terms relative to the subject. Split lighting should be considered with the light source even with the subject's ear.

Here's another term for you to consider / research. Feathering. Most all light modifiers have a hot spot which originates from the light source. If you were to position your light source and modifier such that the center of illumination (hot spot) passes either in front of, or behind the subject, this would be considered feathering. I think this little trick has great benefits. It can be employed if using bare bulb, unbrellas, soft boxes, grids etc.

I like this simple tutorial for light patterns. I also suggest to peruse the links at the bottom of the page.

[url]http://tips.romanzolin.com/articles/article011.php[/URL]

 

[Tony S]

How far from her was your light set up? My guess from the image is that it may have been a bit too far and you did not get any wrap around light to fill some of the shadow areas.

LIke K said above, feathering is a good tool to use. Pass the main hot spot of the light past her, but use a reflector on the opposite side to catch it and bounce it back in for fill.



BTW, I bet she has an amazing smile..... next time say something really stupid and catch her laughing.

 

[rokvi]

4- The facial expression and the eyes direction are not telling me anything, try to make a story in her look

They tell me "Hurry up and take your damn picture". Mines the same.

 

[Ernicus]

4- The facial expression and the eyes direction are not telling me anything, try to make a story in her look

They tell me "Hurry up and take your damn picture". Mines the same.

You read the expression accurately sir, lol

 

[Ernicus]

How far from her was your light set up? My guess from the image is that it may have been a bit too far and you did not get any wrap around light to fill some of the shadow areas.

LIke K said above, feathering is a good tool to use. Pass the main hot spot of the light past her, but use a reflector on the opposite side to catch it and bounce it back in for fill.



BTW, I bet she has an amazing smile..... next time say something really stupid and catch her laughing.

I was directly in front of her about 8-10 feet away. the light was to my left about 4-5 feet, the same distance from her. I dont have much reach on my sync cord, and no wireless transmitters.

 

[Ernicus]

I just had a brain spaz idea. So I went to set up another combination. Since I have two umbrellas, no reflector, I set up the static lamp (has adjustable arm) in one umbrella, and the flash in the other umbrella on opposite side. Took samples that I think will work...so now I gotta convince the woman to get in the frame. I'll update if she does. lol

I'll try to remember all that was said here so you guys don't think you're wasting your keystrokes. ;-)

 

[PinkDoor]

What the heck is that??? A deflated purple bean bag????

So, my first thought is: Whoa, she looks incredible and WAY younger than your previous "my old lady" posts! Is she up for boudoir? That would be great lighting practice!

For the picture itself, I do not think the left is too bright . . . it's perfect! The right is too dark for me, but it's "just right" if you are going for an artsy look.

 

[Ernicus]

I'm thinkin I failed miserably tonight. Tried too many things. Got some good practice though.

I noticed one thing, I lose focus a lot in low light. I dunno if I'm saying it right, but when shooting in lower light, I don't get sharp focus. *shrugs*

There are two or three shots I'm going to play around with tomorrow in post, I think they might be ok, the rest fails.

Glad ya dont think its too bright. I dont know what too bright vs not is, so i'll register in my brain its good.

She would do a budior with me...and I think she'd be great as she has nice legs and butt, but what I see in my head and have seen on here, I dont think I can do with my setup, or I just don't know how, I don't seem to be able to shoot in the low lighting I want. I want the dark...sexy look, but each time I try dark, my pictures are not in focus at all.

I'm thinking maybe I need good steady light, not strobe?

If anyone can make sense of my rambling and advise that would be great. I don't always use the right terms so I know I don't make sense a lot.

What I'd like to try to shoot, and I know I won't get close, but I wanna try, is like that shot that guiness man did in his thread that I really liked. Lady laying on the bed, room seems dark, he did great with the shadow play. Thats what I see in my head.

Yes pink, it was a bean bag, lol. This time I put up a purple sheet as a backdrop. Only color other than white we have, and I have not bought any backdrops yet.

Here is one from tonight that I think came out kinda cute. I don't think I had the strobe angled right, to me...and correct me if I'm wrong, but the overall image is underexposed, yet her face and arms are too lit up?

So many fails, I have to run through and pick the "maybe's" and see. She won't let me post unless I skin smooth as she hates her lines on her face...so if it seems overdone it's because I'm still learning how to do it and she makes me. lol


Oh, one other thing that's kinda pissing me off. Does the 50mm 1.4 pick up shake from shutter more than others? If I shoot in well lit light at 160ss or higher, focus nailed. I drop to below and it's horrid. unbeliveably so at slow speeds like 1/60 or 1/20, below that even is a wreck. I was on tripod with shutter release cable...so I'm guessing the shutter hit? I have no clue but it's annoying. I have a good old heavy manfrotto pod and a new maanfrotto 222 joystic head, that head does not move...it locks. So I am perplexed as to where the shake is from. My logical mind says "impossible" but the pictures show the proof.

anyway...so much rambling...here's a picture to tear apart. lol

Ima hit the bed now so I'll check responses tomorrow.

Thanks to those who read through my ramble.

 

[cgipson1]

Ernicus... what bugs me the most about this (ignoring the background), is that the light is not soft! Look at the shadows... they are intense, and hard. What size umbrellas are you using? I saw about you said the light was about five feet away?



Remember.. the larger the light source, the softer the light.

The closer the light source, the softer the light.

It looks to me like your light source is too small for a single light shot. or it was too far away. Either increase the size of the light source, use a reflector... or use two lights. I highly recommend using a reflector anytime you are using a single light source.

 

[cgipson1]

I

I'm thinking maybe I need good steady light, not strobe?

You need enough ambient light to be able to focus properly... but only for that purpose. Trust me... using constant light for portraiture sucks big time.... there are many threads here on it. Constant lights are rated in Watts PER SECOND.... so a 100 watt bulb is 100 watts in one second! What if you are shooting at 1/100 of a second??? C'mon.. do the math.. how much light do you have from that bulb?

Can you see where this would SUCK big time!

If you are serious about wanting to learn this.. pick up an inexpensive monolight... like the Flashpoint 320 from Adorama $99. It even has a modeling light (to help you focus.. and see what the light is doing!)